A proud Prince

GOLD Coast Titans captain Scott Prince will reach another significant milestone in his illustrious career tonight when he plays his 250th National Rugby League match, against South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium.

Prince, 31, who made his NRL debut as a 70kg teenager for the North Queensland Cowboys in 1998, reflected yesterday on the milestone and the rocky road along the way as the Titans finalised preparations for the clash with a solid training session on the Gold Coast.

While stressing his priority was simply to help his team nab a win against the Rabbitohs as the Titans chase their first set of back-to-back victories this season, Prince admitted he was proud of his individual achievement.

Along that journey, he overcame two broken legs in the early stages of his career to win a premiership with the Wests Tigers in 2005 and play at Test and State of Origin level.

The wily halfback played five Origin matches for Queensland in 2004-08, four Tests for Australia (2005-8), represented his country at the 2008 World Cup and ran on for the Indigenous All Stars team last year.

“It’s a milestone (reaching 250 games) that early in my career I never thought I’d reach,” Prince said. “Especially during my time at the Broncos, when I spent a lot of time on the sidelines through injury.

“The one thing that I learned was never take anything for granted, to play each game as they come, because it could be your last.

“That’s the way I’ve approached all my games after that and I’m very fortunate to be playing the greatest game of all.

“But against Souths it’s all about winning for the team. We had a really good win last week, which was a shot of confidence that was certainly needed.

“All the boys are buzzing now and we’re working really hard to make it two on the trot.”

In his 14 seasons in the NRL, Prince has scored 759 points through 58 tries, 260 goals and seven field goals. Significantly, he has scored 544 of those points with the Titans.

Titans coach John Cartwright said the 250-game milestone was something of which Prince should be proud.

“When you think about the amount of people that don’t get to play one game, to play 250 at that level is an enormous achievement,” Cartwright said.

“There are only a very small percentage of guys that actually do it.”

Prince proved the match-winner in the club’s last visit to ANZ Stadium, slotting a field goal in the 81st minute to secure the club a thrilling 19-18 golden-point victory.

The Titans have won two of four previous clashes against the Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium.